


Seven Headed Snake

by fairyjunnie



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Blood, Blood and Gore, Blood and Injury, Burying alive, Cannibalism, Explicit Language, Graphic Description, Horror, M/M, Overdosing, Poltergeists, Purgatory, Suicide, Suicide Attempt, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-18 03:53:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29362068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fairyjunnie/pseuds/fairyjunnie
Summary: They will never age. They will never feel pain a day after every time they hurt themselves. They are invincible, but not forever.
Relationships: Han Jisung | Han/Lee Minho | Lee Know, Hwang Hyunjin/Lee Felix/Seo Changbin
Comments: 1
Kudos: 5





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> !!!TRIGGER WARNING!!!
> 
> This story contains unsettling content. There will brief mentions of vomiting and insects. For people who can't handle this, please turn away now.

Jisung woke up gasping.

He jolted from his bed to catch his breath, unable to get the chance to let the ceiling greet him like most people did. It took him a moment to realize he was surrounded by seven unfamiliar faces.

"Where am I?" He asked, terrified. "Who are you?"

"And yet another member to add to the family," said a brunette who had reading glasses perched up on the bridge of his nose. "Is he the last of us?"

"We don't know about that. This place isn't only for us."

"Lord, honest to God I'm so going to make sure it only belongs to us."

"Ignore them," said a man with chestnut brown hair to Jisung, intertwining his hand with his. He was probably by far, the most attractive man Jisung had ever seen his life, only if this was even a part of his life. Jisung tried to pry his hand off him, to no avail. "Just tell us your name."

It was weird, Jisung’s brain supplied. He rose up with no memories of himself, of what happened, and who he was. He rose up with memories of nearly nothing, but he did recall his own name.

“Han Jisung."

That name, it rolled off his tongue with such ease, a boy gave him a bright smile, dimples on full display 

"Ooh, Sungie, that's a cute name!"

"I don't understand," Jisung quivered. "I only remember my name?"

"Yes, yes, that's understandable,” said another one. “We believe you, so don't worry."

"And we assure you, it's normal! Happened to us when we first came here too."

"Guys, don't you think it's about time we introduce ourselves?"

They agreed right away, each taking turns to introduce themselves. They gave Jisung a generous matter of time to memorize their names, considering he was still bewildered about where he was which appeared to be a dim clinic with beds similar to the one he was sitting on. The walls were plain empty, and Jisung could’ve sworn he saw a spider disappear behind the shelf of bottled medicines. The window covered with a flimsy, translucent curtain danced at the wind’s rhythm, which at all didn’t help alter the mood in the room.

Minho, Chan, Changbin, Hyunjin, Felix, Seungmin, and Jeongin. He tried to repeat them over and over again to avoid mistaking someone with somebody else. While on the process of doing so, the six of them were smiling at him like he was a birthday boy in bed.

"Welcome to the family, Han Jisung."

Felix and Jeongin volunteered to show Jisung around the castle and give him a tour.

The castle was vast and resplendent. To describe the interiors, Jisung didn’t know where to begin. He found it hard to believe he popped out of nowhere in such a place, a place that was beyond lofty grandeur.

The ground floor was comprised of the porch, lounge, dining room, and the kitchen with a small outdoor terrace sitting atop the pantry. The frescoed ceiling on the lobby towered so high it served as the fourth floor’s ceiling too, adorned with a crystal chandelier. The ceiling of the first floor was held together by a set of fleeting, golden pillars surrounding the huge circle-shaped space on the lobby’s enameled floor.

“It’s big, right?” Felix twirled around at the center with his arms spread wide open. “And it’s just about 0.5/4 of this castle.”

Jisung didn’t believe him. He didn’t until he stepped foot on the second floor.

Straight ahead the lobby were the elegantly palatial stairs split into two, rejoined together on the second floor, where the library, gallery, and great hall were. The bed chambers, clinic, and the bathroom were on the third floor, far further upstairs than Jisung thought, because who in their right mind would endure a flight of stairs down after waking up in the morning, barely ready for breakfast?

The fourth floor was said to be empty at most times according to Jeongin, as it was just another massive lounge with stairs, corridors, and a hollowed-out piano. There was a mezzanine where blackboards served as walls. Nobody knew who wrote scientific researches and mathematical equations on them using chalk. The handwriting matched none of the kids' currently residing in the castle. One quick look at them makes Jisung’s eyes hurt.

All the walls were lined and bordered with intricate Victorian patterns, sometimes with a mix of floral designs, and Jisung for a second believed the wallpaper used was cast by magic to last for that long as it never blemished or discolored as the time passed by. The pristine tiles on the floor were as exalted as the carved concave patterns on the stair railings or better yet, the portraits on the second floor of famous musicians, scientists, and politicians, whom Jisung couldn't even remember the names of but Edgar Allan Poe.

"Are you sure we're living in this castle for free?"

"Yes," Felix grinned. "Rent-free. We don't even have jobs to earn money."

"Then where do we get food, clothes, and the like? The water and electricity too. Are there no such bills here?"

"No," Jeongin shook his head. "None of us are paying for anything because everything is provided for free. You’re craving a bite of a blueberry muffin? You check the fridge and there you go. You want to wear sweatpants? Just open your wardrobe and you're settled. We're not teenage dirtbags anymore. We're just souls being monitored."

Jisung wanted to ask monitored how? but sealed his lips, not wanting to annoy the two with his endless inquiries. He didn't understand what Jeongin’s point was, and he wouldn’t probably know for long. He shrugged the thought off as the three of them got off the terrace and walked out the porch.

The weather was neither hot nor drizzly. Grey clouds accumulated and shrouded the entire sky. It was just cold. One look at it had Felix tell Jisung that there was only a little chance of rain incoming, and the breeze made Jisung shiver in his thin, knitted sweater.

From outside, the castle looked ancient and portentous. Jisung planned to stare at it longer and observe the shapes of the windows and guess which tower was which when the younger duo called him over to show him the land. It'd be barren if not for the tall trees and the cliffs, the roaring waves of the oceans crashing at the island's teeth. There was a graveyard about twenty meters away from the front porch, to which the forest followed.

"I know this might sound crazy to you, but we're in purgatory."

"Pur– what?" Jisung snorted. "What are you saying? That we're dead?"

"Yes, we are. Hence your blank memories."

"No way. I didn't even know purgatory exists."

"Purgatory has different settings for a set of dead people, you see," Jeongin elaborated. "And we happened to end up here. This deserted island, a castle up the hill, a forest surrounding that castle, a graveyard, then the sea... Well, past the sea is just a vast space, so leaving this island will be useless. Hyunjin hyung said we shouldn't think we're somewhere on planet Earth because it's true that we are not."

"That's why you should never underestimate how they make purgatories," said Felix with a sour laugh. "They're places like no other on Earth, but they're still dreadful places because they come with punishments."

"Punishments? What kind of punishments?"

Jeongin hummed, eyeing the horizon, as he tried to find and gather the right words.

"You'll see some other night. Since we're going to welcome you as a new family member tonight, both heaven and hell must allow punishments to be put aside as per respect for you."

"Wow. Okay. But how do we get out of this purgatory shit?"

"That’s simple. We atone for our sins."

"Then I should atone as soon as I can," Jisung stated. "I do not want to be here forever."

"Oh, actually, you can't atone if you don't know your sin. You'll find out what your sin is though."

"How?"

"By dreaming."

"Uh, what?" Jisung furrowed his eyebrows in scrutiny. "Are you sure this isn't a joke? Or maybe you kidnapped me here, gave me amnesia and I have a family at home who is worried to death about me?"

Felix hung his mouth wide open in shock, “no, absolutely not.”

“Or maybe this is just a dream because I swear to God I need to wake up! This is ridiculous!”

Felix watched in horror as Jisung incessantly slapped himself on both cheeks.

"We're telling you the truth. None of us know what our sins were. We’ve had several dreams of our past lives, but we haven’t pieced everything together," Jeongin scrunched his nose. "So none of us has atoned yet. Maybe I won't even want to."

"And why is that?"

Jisung watched the way Jeongin’s cheeks puffed.

"Because the castle is getting more homey day by day, and as much as I don’t want to admit it, I've formed a bond with the hyungs."

Felix sniggered, "even with all those gory events that happen every night?"

"I mean, we always survive anyway. Always, no matter how traumatic they can be."

"Whoa whoa whoa, slow down. What happens every night?"

"Uh, I don't know how to explain," Felix flattened his lips into a thin line. "To see is to believe, right? It'd be best if you just see for yourself."

Jeongin then pointed out that they had reached the end of the forest and were now standing at the borderline of the island's cliff, whereas beneath it was where the rocky surface of the land met with the waters. Jisung vacuously stared at the shore. A part of him hoped its depth would unveil something, maybe secrets if not his reflection.

"I don't remember who I am."

"Was," Jeongin corrected.

"And I also don't remember what happened before I blacked out."

"We all don't remember our sins and what we have done to end up here, and it's probably because you weren't here till now."

Jisung crossed his arms at Felix’s response. "I'm sorry, what?"

"You'll see tonight."

"Oh, speaking of tonight, Lixie, we're going to hold a ritual. And it'll be the first ritual I'm going to participate in!"

Both youngsters whipped their heads to Jisung, who stared back at them in confusion. He laughed to preserve his sanity.

"I'm sorry, I'm not following. Come again?"

"A ritual for a new family member," Felix said. "We do it every time someone is to be welcomed here. All purgatories practice them."

"All of us have been through the same. You'd think it might be bad, but actually, it isn't that bad."

"But it'll be somewhat painful in the beginning."

"Oh?" Jisung raised an eyebrow. "Well, I don't understand any of what you are saying, but okay. If you say it isn't that bad, then… Okay.”

“You believe us?”

Jisung puckered his lips.

“You’ve fed me lunch, after all."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> cw // very brief blood drinking, self harm

It was that bad.

Jisung’s mind was practically screaming at itself that it was bad, and what on Earth had he gotten himself to? Was this really purgatory? One minute he was drinking tea with Felix and Jeongin by the kitchen counter, the next he was passed out. He opened his eyes eagerly only to be met by red, fluorescent bulbs focused on him. Maybe not on him, but their neon shade made him feel like they bore intentions of penetrating every part of his body.

As he fluttered his eyes open after getting used to the fluorescent lights, he tried to pick up sounds originating from a conversation within the vicinity. If he was not mistaken, that was Hyunjin’s voice, and he was complimenting Seungmin for a substance he made... To mix in his tea?

"No wonder he was so deep in his sleep."

"I just followed the instructions in that one Alchemy book I found in the library."

"I did the same back then to make Felix faint for his ritual and nothing happened. Ask Chan, he was there."

"Huh," Seungmin wore a smug grin. "Maybe I was a chemist in my past life."

"Wait, he's awake!"

All eyes fell on him. He couldn't see them as he was lying flat on the floor, all of his limbs chained to something. He can smell paint everywhere. He discerned the domed ceiling, acknowledging the candlelit chandelier dangling above the hexagonal lobby and all stories.

They were in the lobby. The somewhat sombre lobby. Whatever mischief they were going to induce like a witch's play dolls, Jisung will be their victim. Their experiment subject. Or at least that was what Jisung convinced himself.

"Guys?" He called out, shaking. "Felix? Jeongin? W-What's happening? What are you doing to me?"

"Calm down," said Felix, his tone so calm and flat and deeper than usual, it scared Jisung. "We're performing the welcoming ritual on you."

What are they talking about? Jisung wanted to ask. Is this a satanic ritual? On me?

"Let's make this quick, please," Hyunjin pleaded. "I want to get a good night’s sleep now. I haven't slept in four days."

Jisung pretended not to hear him. He was tied to the middle of a hexagram they drew with white chalk. 

An ominous symbol was drawn on him with red paint, his knitted sweater bathed in the thick, fetid liquid. His tears were welling up, supposed he couldn't control them. The strong smell of lead coming from the paint stung his nostrils, causing him to choke.

"Don't worry," Minho came into view. "It will hurt less if you don't worry. We're doing this for you, after all."

Jisung, albeit his vision still blurry, could make out Minho approaching closer as he stroked his tears-stained cheek, the gesture so sweet and loving Jisung forgot what he had seen for a second. Minho bent down on one knee beside his body.

He nodded at the others who were seated at their respective points on the hexagram, leaning against the gilded, salient pillars. They took this as a sign to begin, ready to risk their vigor for the sake of a new boy in their home. They shut their eyes and settled on meditating positions.

Minho used a kitchen knife to slit his own wrist, to which Jisung shakily reacted. Drops of his blood spilled onto his cheeks before rolling across his nose like freckles, adorning his skin that was once rosy red in color.

"Just drink my blood. Then it'll be over, simple right?"

Jisung shook his head. Sighing, Minho took this as his cue to open his mouth by force, his bleeding wrist in position to drip a few amounts of drops onto his tongue. It was horrendous, if not as horrendous as the green jelly he ate with Seungmin for brunch that day. His blood tasted metallic, pungent even, and it had a sharp aftertaste he couldn't describe with his senses alone.

"Minho," Hyunjin audibly grunted. "I can't handle it anymore."

"Me too," Felix could feel pain building in his stomach. "I think I'm going to be sick."

Changbin sighed in disbelief, turning to Minho. "Please."

Without saying anything, Chan, Jeongin and Seungmin fixated their focus, eyes still shut although they can already feel the throes drowning the energy from the marrow of their bones. It was too much. The ritual was too much. And the Minho standing in the middle of the hexagram, standing before Jisung, he wasn't the Minho they knew. 

He wasn’t the same Minho who used to do the same ritual on them when they each first came, provided their assumptions.

Minho may also be not himself whenever it was the darkest of the night, and their knowledge of him could go as far as the flats of shovels abandoned under Earth. However, the Minho who leaned in to give Jisung a gentle kiss on the forehead had a death grip on his waist as he watched Jisung convulse as far as his shackles would let him not the Minho they were familiar with. He didn't flinch at the sight of Jisung’s pupils going to the back of his head while he tried to break free.

Chan dismissed the thought and continued to let the hexagram suck his sacrificed, spectral energy. The others did the same.

Jisung went silent for a moment before passing out. The rest took deep breaths, desperate to avoid the unexplainable power about to dominate their weak-willed bodies as unless their lungs were about to give up. Minho released him from the shackles that bound him, taking him into his arms and lifting him up like a bride. Jisung was light, but not too light, he seemed to be eating well and Minho had no complaints.

And when they presumed everything was fine, for now, everything went haywire. Minho was the only one who seemed undisturbed.

"I'm sorry," he said. "You'll have to take care of this while I take care of him."

"Hey, they're sick!" Changbin complained. "You won't help?!"

"You'll all be okay again in the morning, or will you not?"

The lights flickered. A strong gust of wind surrounded them even though there were no windows nearby, and the candles on the chandelier and the ones that once surrounded Jisung’s body on the circle were blown, the smoke diffusing in the air.

Not only inanimate objects were perturbed, but also the ritual's participants, the ones that kept it going. Hyunjin gagged, vomiting a black goo while Felix fainted with little energy left in him, so Changbin and Chan left their post and ran to their aid. 

Jeongin and Seungmin bolted up the stairs. It'll not be known if they were dashing to the clinic to assist Felix and Hyunjin, or they were heading straight to bed to have the best, refreshing sleep they never had for days, weeks even.

Minho left the lobby without turning back to his friends. Their new family member was his top priority now, as it is his role as the head and the first to arrive. The boy had sparked something in him. Just as he had been baptized as another person they now share the same blood and flesh with, Minho knew why his presence alone made him feel weak.

He went up, up the iron stairs, headed to their room, and laid him down on his bed. As blood has stopped flowing through his veiny wrist, Minho mutters a prayer to the uncaring, starless sky to wish Jisung sweet dreams.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TW ; suicide, semi graphic description of death

Jisung was in the middle of nowhere. Or he assumed so himself.

He walked towards a railroad. A strong haze of fog hindered his sight. He was wearing the same knitted sweater, except it was spotless and redolent as it had been in the first place. Jisung didn’t have the slightest idea how, but his pair of feet led him past a railroad crossing’s gate.

The train's signal echoed, a signal that signified its nearing. Jisung turned a deaf ear upon it as the rustling of wheels against metal grew louder. He did nothing but shut his eyes closed. The train was approaching nearer, and nearer and nearer–

For a moment within the vein of his heart did he feel no pain, no remorse, and no regrets for himself. The vehicle hit him, the impact bringing the worst sort of pain on his body, gashing him, tearing his limbs apart, and even crushing his ribs as they made disturbing, crackling sounds of bones he so hated to hear–‘

He woke up in cold sweat.

He gasped for air, jolting when he saw Minho sitting beside him. He was staring at him like he had been waiting for him to wake up.

"Did you dream?"

"Y-Yes, and i-it's– I was–"

"Don't tell us yet. Don't tell anyone what you dreamt about, okay? None of us are supposed to find out or things will get confusing unless we agree to it. Understood?"

Jisung nodded. He was puzzled, but if that was what Minho said, then so be it. He seemed the most trustworthy, after all.

"C'mon. Time for breakfast."

Jisung peered around the room for a short while, then it came to him. He and Minho shared a room, a bed at that too.

The day passed. Having meals with seven other strangers he had only known for a day, in which case they shouldn’t be strangers to him anymore, was becoming less awkward. They were nice and welcoming, acting like nothing happened the night before. They offered him all sorts of food as they grew a liking and interest to Jisung’s palatial tastes and his preferences. There was not a second where Jisung felt left out.

That afternoon, Jisung went out of the castle to get fresh air when he saw Felix and Chan from the front porch. He squinted to see better, swallowing a lump when it appeared to him that they seemed to be slow dancing in the middle of the graveyard.

They brought a radio with them to dance to, but the song just... Put Jisung off. He didn’t recognize the song, but it was eerie, not at all joyful for a dance, and worse, he could audibly pick up the lyrics. It looked like neither Felix and Chan minded. 

Tip-toe through the window

By the window, that is where I'll be

Come tip-toe through the tulips with me

Jisung winced. As they spun slowly, Felix’s head leaning against Chan’s broad shoulder, he could perceive Donghyuck silently crying, the tear tracks visible on his freckled face.

The song continued. Chan’s eyes remained closed. His hands had a vice-like grip on Felix, and he was giving him a few rubs on the back as an act of consolation.

Knee deep in flowers we'll stray

We'll keep the showers away

Jisung backed off, his steps producing crunched noises against the dried leaves beneath his shoes. With one last, fearful look at the two, he went back inside the castle to help Seungmin make dinner.

"Guys," Hyunjin had assembled them together at the fancy dining room by eight in the evening. "Were you all able to lucid dream last night with the absence of the poltergeists thanks to Jisung’s welcoming ritual?"

Everybody nodded. Jisung didn’t understand. Poltergeists? Welcoming ritual? He was as confused as ever, but he nodded anyway, gulping.

"Good, because I did too," Hyunjin said. "So, can all of us remember now how we died, or what our sins were that were grave enough to send us all here?"

"I killed myself," Minho said straightforwardly. Jisung was surprised that no one batted an eyelash.

"Me too," Changbin said.

"Me three." Jeongin spoke.

“Me four!” Seungmin spoke wide eyed 

"Oh, cool," Chan commented. "Because I did too."

"And I did the same," Felix gasped. “It’s getting interesting.”

"So everyone here killed themselves, I included," said Hyunjin, cocking his head to Jisung. "What about you?"

"Uh, me?" Jisung didn't know what to say. His mind flashed him his short dream from that morning, uncertain if he really did kill himself. He clearly heard the train approach. He ignored it, and he stopped his tracks right there in the middle of the railroad as if to get hit on purpose. "Ah, yes. I killed myself too, I guess."

"Of course he would," Chan said. "People in the same purgatory setting are people who committed the same crime before they died. I read about that in the library."

"Ugh," Hyunjin rolled his eyes. "I'm so sick of people considering suicide as a crime, and now I'm placed in this purgatory shit to find out that even God and the devil think the same as the law?"

"Soooo," Jeongin droned. "If we killed ourselves and we're here in purgatory, does that mean we have to atone for that lone sin?"

"Why would we feel sorry for ourselves?" Changbin scoffed. "We all thought it was the only way to end our suffering. And we didn't really kill ourselves. People did."

Hyunjin tapped his fingers against the floor to cope with boredom. "Changbin’s right. They're the ones who should be stuck here instead of us."

Jisung was slowly picking up things, comprehending them. Maybe that was where it became difficult to atone for their sins. They killed themselves out of rage or self-pity, or something more than those, taken into account that emotions are strong and could go out of hand.

Seungmin turned to the grandfather's clock.

"It's almost nine."

"Ooo! Three hours to go till everything goes down to hell."

"Oh god. There will be a lot of screaming tonight."

Jisung blinked.

"What?"


End file.
